First firms could move to old Honda site in months

Construction is ongoing at Panattoni Park, which is expected to create 7,000 jobs

The first businesses could move onto a former Honda factory site at the end of January.

The development of manufacturing and warehousing facility Panattoni Park, in Swindon, is expected to create 7,000 jobs, with the first two units open to use early next year.

Honda opened its factory at the South Marston site in 1985, but closed in 2021 having made more than 3.7 million cars.

While no contracts are officially signed yet, Panattoni has said it is confident that the units will be filled, with local MP Will Stone saying defence companies are interested.

Two of the units will be ready to move into early next year

Mr Stone said his inbox has been "getting filled up daily" of people interested in the progress.

He said Swindon "is a manufacturing town that currently doesn't do manufacturing", but he wants to bring it back and sees the development as "the next generation of what fixes our town".

That is not just because of the jobs but also "about £20m maybe more into the council in business rates, that's something you cannot ignore", he added.

The MP said he is hopeful that defence drone companies will be one of the industries moving in, after German defence firm Stark announced it would start making drones in Swindon in July.

James Watson from Panatonni said it is talking to "household names" as potential tenants

Meanwhile, James Watson, from Panattoni, told the BBC the company is talking to household names and brands as options for the units too.

Two of them will be ready to move into next year - one at the end of January, another in March, he added.

"Both buildings are fully available and on the market. We've got a number of really exciting conversations with a number of potential occupiers.

"We haven't got anyone on the dotted line just yet. We're not at all stressed by that. We always knew this was going to be a speculative play," added Mr Watson.

The site, as seen in a computer generated image, is expected to be fully open in five years

Swindon Borough Council leader Jim Robbins said he expects there to be a "steady flow" of announcements as companies say they would like to move in to the development, near the A419.

"There was a huge rise in industrial tenants coming in over the pandemic and we were concerned we were losing highly-skilled manufacturing jobs," he added.